Product Description

Franny Martin is an Oklahoma farm girl who's preparing to spend the holidays alone... again. She has spent all of her adult life keeping the family farm going after her parents' death, and she struggles to make ends meet. Franny has no money to speak of, but she is clever and spirited. Her love for music drives her dream to sell the farm and move to the city.

Then Charlie Landau shows up one day, all wealth and polish, and offers to buy Franny's farm. Charlie has been trying to prove himself and meet the expectations of his wealthy father after falling short on one business venture after another. He is determined to make his latest endeavor work - running a farm - that is, after taking a few lessons from Franny.

Publisher's Description

Fall in love with this cozy story about two people from different worlds. Franny Martin is an Oklahoma farm girl who's preparing to spend the holidays alone...again. Then Charlie Landau shows up one day, all wealth and polish, and offers to buy Franny's farm. Franny has no money to speak of, but she is clever and spirited, and she's more than happy to sell the farm and move to the city. As Sinatra croons from the radio and Christmas descends upon her charming farm, Franny teaches Charlie the curious and sometimes comical ways of country life. In the process, they unearth some discoveries of the heart--that sometimes love comes when you're least ready for it. Will the holidays bring their most impossible dreams within reach?

A Merry Little Christmas is a "cozy holiday read about two people from different worlds." I'm so happy that Anita allowed me to review this book. I found myself smiling on every page as I got acquainted with Frannie Martin and Charlie Landau.

Frannie Martin prepares to spend her holidays alone - again - on her Oklahoma farm. Then Charlie Landau sweeps in with an offer to buy it from her although all he has is wealth and polish - absolutely no farming experience - and a need to prove himself as worthwhile to his father. With Christmas songs crooning from the radio, Frannie teaches Charlie about country life with all its fun and foibles. Will the holidays that are quickly advancing on them break them apart or give them their dearest Christmas desires?

You'll want several copies of A Merry Little Christmas - one to keep and several to give as Christmas gifts. You'll be so pleased you did and so will be the recipients!

Okay, I wanted to give this a rating of a three or four--I promise, I did. After all, it is your typical romance, and there is little doubt how it will end. It has the typical poor, independent woman and the rich, robust man, and they fall head over heels in love at first sight. It even takes place on a farm. And the author sprinkles some wonderful Christian principles in there as well. This is typical, so what would possess me to rate it so high?

Anna Higman is smart author. She has written a romance that is sweet and clean but tackles some difficult issues. Have you ever had a dream that others ridiculed and did not support? What about racism in the 1950's? And, of course, any time a book adds the elements of music and Christmas, it just doesn't get much better than that. And when you add in romantic, humorous dialogue, well, I just have to give a five-star rating!

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas, Make the yuletide gay, from now on our troubles will be miles away." Yes, God does transform people, and there are some miraculous things that occur in this book. You know they have to happen, but it is still neat to see God change people. And by the end of the book, this song does ring true. No spoilers--read it yourself!

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.

This is a great Christmas romance. Charlie Landau a wealthy city boy meets Franny Martin a poor country girl, when he shows up to purchase her farm. They discover a mutual love of music and so much more. Charlie fights to meet the demands of an overbearing father while, Franny fights for injustices. Franny is hired to teach Charlie how to become a farmer before leaving to chase her own dreams. They face obstacles and challenges with honor, dignity and love. When Charlie bought the farm he got more than he bargained for, just goes to show you opposites can be attracted to each other. The author Anita Higman did a great job bringing romance and humor together. She exposed the hurts that come with prejudice. I recommend this Christmas story to all who love romance and Christian fiction, a great love story for any time of the year.

A Merry Little Christmas is a delightful and heart-warming book. The main characters are interesting, funny, and charming. This book is easy-to-read, but hard to put down. I liked the short chapters, so I could squeeze in a little reading between other holiday activities. But, I read the second half of the book in one sitting, as I was anxious to know how everything turned out. This book has much to offer--tragedy, romance, conflicts between family members, conflicts in the community, and conflicts in the characters themselves. This is my favorite Christmas story of the year!

Franny Martin has her mind on music most of the time while she is doing chores on her farm. The barn yard animals seem to like her singing. As she is singing to the pigs a man walks up behind her and scared the stuffin out of her. Which landed her in the mud. He did save her radio from the mud and she was grateful for that. She asked the nice looking man who he was and why he was there. He boldly told her his name was Charles Landau and he wanted to buy her farm and was willing to pay whatever she asked. She quickly told him he just bought a farm. The only problem was he knew nothing about farming or livestock. Nada! So after much deliberation she agreed to stay on as a hired farm hand and teach him about farming. He was to learn to be farmer in three weeks. Right! After that she was going to move to the city and work at her dream job at a radio station that is if anyone would hire her without any knowledge in this line of work.

She had many obstacles in her way of getting her dream job. Charlie was not very successful at farming after she left either. Maybe if they worked together in running the farm it would be profitable for both of them. That is if Charlie's father was not so bent on Charlie taking over the family business to the point of making threats.

I read this book in one sitting okay two sittings. I did not want to put it down.

It had all I love to read in a book intrigue, romance, Trust in God, family secrets, redemption, love of mankind and some very interesting characters.

The characters:

Franny has horrible memories of the day of her parent's deadly accident.

Charlie had also suffered the loss of his mother and the lack of his father's love.

Noma has spent her whole life dealing with prejudice because of her color.

Willie is Charlie's brother and has suffered even greater emotional abuse from his father.

Mr. Landau rules over his sons holding back any affection or love.

In my opinion each of the characters had a painful past causing the present life hard to endure at times. The difference in the characters was that some of them trusted in God's will and endured their lives with patience. Those that had hardened their hearts towards God tried to force their own will on others causing much pain themselves and others.

The author writes of a Christmas Gift that's not under a tree or wrapped up in pretty paper. It is the Gift of Love God gives to His children through the birth of His Son Jesus.

Disclosure

I received a free copy of this book from Summerside Press/Litfuse Group Tours for review. I was in no way compensated for this review.